#since I like to stick fairly closely to canon

[haldenlith]

M, N, S?

You managed to pick all the long form options for me, so this is going to be a little bit of a long answer-post. lol

M: Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Despite having my now three fandom sons that I adore (Zevran, Crow, and now Astarion), this is actually tough, since each of those three men have their own respective problems that I'm not sure I'd put up with in real life if I knew men like them. Such is the catch of liking morally grey characters (well, minus Crow I guess).

I suppose I could choose from outside of that pool, but oh there's so many options to sift through... I'm tempted to say Isabela from Dragon Age 2, but I feel like, unless we're good friends, she'd sell me out for a goddamn klondike bar. Though, the inverse is that she'd sell everyone else out for me, because she seemed very much a "ride or die" friend once she's actually on your side.

I guess I'll just say Crow. He's the safest option, since I feel like his issues are much easier to deal with when he's plucked out of the D2 universe. He's still hella reckless trouble, but at least I would know he'd always have my back, and I wouldn't have to worry about getting a "hey I murdered someone... maybe a lot of someones" phone call. (*stares at Astarion, Zevran, and Isabela...*)

N: Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

I'm going to go for "in general" rather than specifics since, thinking about it, these could apply to all the things I've dipped my toes into.

Heteroplatonic relationships. Men and women can co-exist in a friendly manner. There doesn't always have to be a romance. This is honestly aimed at writers of media and not at the fandoms (because in fandom, you can do whatever the fuck you want, you're writing for yourself). For example, I was watching Across the Spiderverse with a friend and, even though we both knew why they're a thing, we just kinda went "you know, Miles and Gwen could just be friends... do we really have to have a romantic subplot here?" (This said, it is a little exhausting in fandom to constantly see that two characters can't exist in a space without being IN WUUUUUV. *stares wearily at the Heartsteel fandom* ... Yeah, as someone that imagines the boys as all just being found-family-friends, I'm not going over there. There is nothing for me there.)

Now this one IS a fandom one: BE FUCKING NORMAL. It is so tiring seeing people harassing other people over absolutely stupid and trivial shit. It is even worse when the fandom turns that brand of crazy on the people behind the media (*motions to people being weird to Neil Newbon, for example*). I know this is a tall ask that will never come to be, but... it's why I live in the walls and don't really interact with much.

Of course, when I'm put on the spot, I can't think of things. Um, scraping my brain for a third item... I guess I'd like to see LESS reducing characters to being "uwu softboy"? (I don't know if women characters get this very often, since I mostly only interact with men character fandoms and when I do read stuff with chicks, I generally don't see this.) It is a bit... tiring. Like, again, you can write whatever you want, but I feel like... if you need to sand the edges off of a character and change them to like them, did you really ever actually like that character? Or did you just like the idea of the character? I feel like, at that point, just make an OC based on them. You've basically done most of the steps to get there.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

S: Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Hmm, I have so many. I'll stick with D2, since you're more of a D2 moot.

A short one: I headcanon, gear wise, that Crow uses the Celestial Nighthawk helm with the Hrafnagud ornament (because it is mentioned that he does sometimes wear a helmet), and uses the Ashen Wings ornament on Hawkmoon. A trivial little headcanon, but there it is. A long(er) one: I guess this isn't entirely a headcanon, since I feel like it's been mostly confirmed in lore, given the frequency of characters going out beyond The Walls and ending up in towns, but I like to think there are many settlements beyond The Walls of The Last City, and I like to think that given enough time and being left alone long enough, the lingering spectre of The Concordat could capitalize on those wayward towns, left to defend themselves largely by themselves (with the exception of getting some help from a passing Hunter or two). It's just too unlike humanity to all agree to hang out in one spot. We aren't like that. We are all too prone to saying, "Fuck you, I'll take my chances forging my own path". Going along with that headcanon, in a tangential sort of commentary note: I do think, if it weren't for all the fuckery going on (the Traveler peacing out off of Earth and going into orbit, for example), keeping people's minds preoccupied, we'd genuinely have a situation of The Vanguard vs Everyone Else, because it seems to me like a lot of humanity isn't too keen on the Guardians anymore. Again, with the idea of the settlements, I imagine they especially aren't keen on them, since they could be made up of people exiled from The Last City, and people who feel left behind. Hell, we saw the sentiment in Season of the Splicer. Lakshmi wouldn't have been able to drum up that much support if it weren't for people feeling that way just a little bit. Actually, going back even further, we see that sentiment with Suraya prior to her joining up.

I guess, thinking about it, you could say my headcanon is that the real situation in the D2 Universe is that while The Vanguard and the Guardians are fighting for humanity, a pretty decent chunk of humanity has zero interest in fighting for them. Does this count as a headcanon? I don't know.

On a rambly OC sidenote: that was the entire idea behind the AU of Ardwynn being all "king of thieves bandit" living outside of The Last City, because he's such a hero "I want to help people" kind of guy. He'd look at everyone living outside and at The Last City, and at what Guardians are, and aren't, doing, and would decide to find a way to help people. Honestly, if it wasn't for Shaxx hanging out in The Tower, helping the Vanguard, Ardwynn probably would throw his lot in with The Concordat.

[choas232]

G/N Chatty reader x Steb 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Summary: In which you grapple with feelings you don’t yet understand by talking a certain enforcer’s ears off. Forced proximity makes everything worse, as it tends to.

CWs: Profanity. Canon typical violence. Reader has some bias about Zaunites they probably need to work on. I wrote most of this at 10pm at night, so be warned.

No use of Y/N, neutral terms and they/them are used to refer the reader. Set in episode three, season 2.

Word count: 2.9k

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝

“God. I’m starving. And tired. I barely slept at allllll last night. Do you think the Grey’s keeping us awake? Our glorious leader Kiramman sure wants it to, dragging us along at this cracking speed. It’s been a whole week, too. I’m gonna drop dead, at this rate.” You lament. Your fellow enforcer does not comment from his place behind you, his footsteps echoing around the pipe.

Graffiti crowds the metal surface, amateur artworks, declarations of love, violence, and scripts you don’t recognise cramming themselves over one another, space sparse and sought after. It’s not Jinx’s work. Still, there’s a chill on your back you choose to attribute to the profanities.

The people of the underground sure know how to decorate, that’s for sure.

You two have been chosen to scout out a fairly low-danger area in search of a Zuanite’s sighting of Jinx. He did say it after a hefty heaping of Grey was funnelled into his lungs and a gun was held to his head, but Caitlyn is paranoid enough to bark at shadows, and you will oblige, if only to keep her happy.

It’s not like any of you are much better. Loris is quieter than ever, Maddie jumps at the smallest sounds and of your companion… you have no idea. You never have. Steb’s inner workings remain a mystery to you.

You turn. “Are we there yet? We should be there soon, right?” Steb nods distantly, more focused on the setting around you.

This part of the pipes is yet to be flooded with grey, so you can see him clearly without the obscuring mask.

His light teal skin, thin lips, nose, sharp, angular features. His neat uniform. His polished posture. He is distinctly and utterly out of place amongst the chaos that surrounds you. His eyes are so blue. So opalescent, shining like pearls in his eye sockets. Is that weird to notice? How much detail is it normal to notice about someone? You should probably stop looking.

His ribbed ears flick back, ever so slightly, eyes flicking to meet yours for a brief moment.

You look away. “Uh.” His eyes. His blue eyes. Blue. “God. I’m sooo hungry. Hah. I haven’t eaten since this morning. The rations are running out, and all the Zaunite stuff Vi is bringing in is uhm, questionable.”

You don’t look behind you again, your mouth moving quicker. Your breath is tight, probably because of the steady stream of words flowing from your mouth. You think. “I would kill for a good sandwich. Or two. I might have to resort to cannibalism—”

Hands enclose around your collar and yank you back with force.

Below you, a human sized-hole lined with rusted, broken metal grating, a slowly, ever spinning fan—

Your heart staggers in your chest like a drunkard. Images of your empaled, scraped, body twisted and pressed beyond recognition cram into your skull, rattle and scream.

“Fuck.” You mumble, quietly. Steb’s hand releases your collar. “C-close one. Thanks. Fish-sticks. How didn’t I see that?” You laugh. He doesn’t. It isn’t funny.

He brushes the shoulder pads of your uniform off, carefully but hastily looking you up and down. He keeps a respectable distance between you, but you can still see his adam’s apple bob as he swallows. You mimic him. Your mouth feels dry.

He fixes you with a look as his hands drop to his sides, and although his face usually retains some semblance of ambiguity on it, you know exactly what he’s thinking. Watch where you’re going.

“Sorry doc. I…” You trail off. You should stop talking. You probably talk so much around him because he makes you nervous. Why does he make you nervous? Your usual slamming of thoughts trickles dry. You have no idea.

Carefully, you two traverse over the great gaping hole in the pipework. How did you miss it? You don’t sure don’t miss how Steb watches you hawk-like though, and the following guilt is low and prickling in your gut. He goes first, and every small unprompted movement of yours has him stiffening, arm moving to steady you.

“Jeez. Don’t mother hen me, I’m all grown-up, I assure you.” You bat him away, landing with a clang! of the metal against your boots as you leap across the last segment. His frown is resounding.

A corner stretches before you, now. You let him go first with a swing of your arm just in case the metal of the pipe opens up to attempt to swallow you yet again. “All yours,” He obliges.

It’s an open space. Milky green light filters through the roofing, painting the graffiti stained flooring monochromatic and hazy. Two other pipes adjoin to the room, and a mural of Janna clad in white laced with metallic armour bounds over the walls. It looks exactly like what was described, which is worrying, because hey, Jinx!

The sniffling child is even more worrying, though. Looking up, she brushes away dark locks  from her face and bursts into prompt tears. “Please, m-my-my… my leg. it really hurts.” She wails.

Sure enough, one of her legs is crushed under a slab of tin, making itself known as the cause of the light filtering through the roof. “Please. Please.” Snot dribbles down onto her ragged shirt, her big brown eyes blown wide.

Steb is already gone before you can access the situation, bounding over.

Poor kid. You wince, tapping your fingers against your lips. Probably just playing with the ball you see perched nearby when shoddy craftmanship led to tragedy. Still… “Jeez. Think to consider a trap? No? Just me.” You mutter.

“Just you.” The voice from behind you amusedly whispers, and then you feel the cool rim of the gun pressed against your skull.

Fear makes a mockery out of you. Your thoughts accelerate, snapping at each others heels, but you cannot think. You aren’t really the brawlers of the team. He’s the field medic, for fuck’s sake, and while you can handle yourself in a fight this is more of a Vi job. You regret mocking her cuisine choices. This is probably some kind of sick karma. Sick? You feel sick. God, your stomach is writhing, your insides eating each other up.

Steb, still blinded by his tunnel vision, hauls the tin off of the girl. His ears flick down as he peers down at the clean space beneath, clean of blood and gore. Her leg, unblemished and by all means healthy looking, curls back into her body, and then she bursts outwards like a spring, down the nearest tunnel.

Too late, he looks back at you.

“I’m sure they require you topsiders to rattle a few braincells together to wear that fancy uniform. They don’t need allll of them, do they?” The man holding the gun to your head calls out to him. Flesh drips from his arms, lanky and lean, pressing against your neck as he holds you into him. You smell the shimmer on his breath before you see his blood lined eyes.

Steb jerks forwards. Bruisingly, the gun slams into your skull. “Move and their brains go BOOM! Hands in the air. Now.” He snarls, and Steb freezes in place, slowly raising his hands. You can see him breathing, hard, heaving breaths.

More people clamour their way out of vents, behind slabs of wood. You count at least four. Shit.

Shit.

This is bad.

“Woah! Talk about dramatics, huh?” You start, and almost in shock, the man holding you to himself grip loosens. From Steb’s place, you can see the wrinkle that lines his mouth when he gets stressed creep into existence. (That’s normal to remember. You should know when your coworkers get stressed. Part of the job, and all.) He slowly shakes his head. You mouth, trust me. He shakes his head harder. “Maybe we should talk this out? Civilly, tea and biscuits? …No?”

“It stopped being civil when you went for one of mine.”

Of course that guy you beat the shit out of gave you the location of an ambush. He was all too eager to speak, and when you go poking your hand down foxholes, it’s going to get bitten off. You feel both incredibly stupid and incredibly self-satisfied, you knew it, and you went here anyways.

“One of yours? I mean, we probably didn’t mean to? It was probably a mistake—” he shoves the gun down your throat. Spittle drips down the barrel. You taste dirt and gunpowder. You taste the blood leaking from your tongue.

You taste fear.

“Well? Your bag.” He gestures loosely to Steb.

Steb locks eyes with you as he gently tugs the straps off of his back, letting the hefty bag land to the floor with a thump. Carefully, he steps back, raising his hands in the air once again.

One of the hovering goons quickly snatches it, tugging it open. Medical supplies, bottles, all-the-like clatter the ground, but she continues shifting through hastily, eyes slowly narrowing. The last of our food supplies…, you mournfully think, quickly followed by Caitlyn is going to kill us, and she’s probably right to.

“You told us there would be hex tech, you fucking liar.” She drops the bag carelessly, starting towards the man holding you. “Well, do you think I’m some sort of prophet? You knew that it was an estimate.” He snaps back, grip on you loosening, the gun shifting out of your mouth to point towards the soft flesh of your cheek, spreading out your blood clouded spit as it does.

“I think you set us the hell up. You promised we’d split the money, but where’s the money now, huh? I gotta family to feed, hired work is dropping like flies with the chem barons at each other’s throats, which means I missed on any number of begging clients for this shit.”

You get an idea.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

It’s a terrible idea.

Steb tears his gaze from the arguing pair to meet your eyes, perhaps on some precognition of the mistake you are about to make.

You wink, grab the gun pressed to your cheek and then you yank.

It comes as cleanly as expected, the man’s adrenaline rattled, drug loosened reflexes nothing for the shock you give him when you take the gun from his hands, and than run. Surprise gives you the upper hand, yells clouding your soundscape. You still manage to pick out Steb’s footsteps, clean and even behind you as you barrel down the nearest pipe.

You run harder than you’ve ever run, past graffiti, with only your breath, the calls behind you, your heartbeat and the echoes of his and your boots slamming against metal to guide you.

You turn the corner so hard you slam your side against it, feeling your already bruised cheek cry out in pain in time with your yelp, and you stumble. Steb catches your shirt and yanks you right back up, and then you’re in another wide-open space.

Your head swings around, fear hammering around your ribcage like a desperate songbird.

Steb grabs your shoulder, gesturing with his head. You follow his gaze. There’s a smaller pipe in the wall, covered by a draping of torn fabric, and you rush towards it before you have any time to think, the fabric draping over your hair, the surface cool under your fingers.

He follows, your pursuer yells barrelling into your ears as the curtain draws shut.

The space is tight, circular, not even big enough for you to stretch out an arm and not brush the opposite end. Your back is pressed flush against the concrete and plaster. Your legs cage Steb, as do his, looping over one each other, his knee bent at an angle that’s for sure going to hurt later. His arms clutch the walls of the tube, yours resting bent in your lap.

He leans down, and his fingers gently grasp that stupid beret of his and tug it down onto his lap, before he pulls his head back up, his head scraping the roof. He’s a least a head taller than Maddie, and although you’d like to think of yourself as average, you are now grateful for the height you lack.

“OVER HERE!” Did they see you? Is this it? What can you do, two against at least five or so. You mean, counting has never really been your strong suit under pressure, and who’s to tell? Are you going to die? Are you going to die, your legs pressed into his midriff?

The gold smattering across Steb’s undereyes and nose adjoins with the darker turquoise scales lining the cavities his eyeballs are strung into, carving out little gold, blue, orange stripes, like the ones on the fish you and your parents used to gawk at the aquariums had.

Are they going to cart out your body to your parents, after your fellow enforcers find you, crammed into a hole in the underground? What would you had died for?

His eyes are so blue.

He blinks, smooth, deep lapis overtaking the gleaming surface of his eyes before his eyelids do. He has a second eyelid. How did you never notice?

His lips, perpetually downturned as they are, his steady line his eyebrows carve themselves into, his perfect posture, even as you are cramped within the pipe, the smooth, angular frame of his cheekbones all of it make him look like one of those forever uninconvenienced paintings the councillors hang from their mansion walls. He looks calm. His stupid snooty resting face cannot fool you. You know he isn’t.

His lips are parted, the gap between his front teeth visible as he stares down the opening of the tunnel like a loyal family dog. His little giveaway.

Maybe his inner workings aren’t such a mystery, after all.

He makes you nervous. He makes you so nervous. He makes you into a wreck.

You think you might be in love with him.

—and your pursuers are rushing past you, all until you can’t hear their voices and you’re alive. You’re alive and you’ve never been so happy to tomorrow eat shitty Zaunite food and have Caitlyn yell at you for loosing supplies and talk and talk and talk until your throat is raw.

You don’t. Talk. You don’t talk.

He’s looking at you.

You feel like a fool.

You sit there, just looking at him too. His eyelids slip halfway, letting you count the short lashes that frame them. His expression relaxes, loosens, ever so slightly, his arms moving from the wall of the tunnel to his lap.

You could sit here with him for hours, death inches from you both, and you could be happy. You could be suspended in disbelief and plausible deniability; you could allow yourself to lie. Your heart is pounding from the adrenaline, of course. Your face is pink because of overexertion, and you kind of want to kiss him because you’ve never kissed anybody and you may as well as get it over with before you die, right?

He points to his face. You blink, and then he points to yours. You brush your finger cheeks against the flesh and feel the sting of injury, spittle and blood on your fingers. Right.

Right. He’s looking at you because you’re injured right?

Of course he is. (Disappoint is still food, and you swallow it.)

Gently, he reaches into his breast pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. Instead of sparring you and handing it to you, he merely carefully holds your head, one hand on your jaw and the other gently patting down the mess on your cheek. His head is tilted. You feel your heart slam up your throat, a throbbing, horrible pain that lets you part your lips to let the breath escape you before it can choke you.

The hand cradling your jaw moves a careful finger up to brush your lower lip.

Accident, of course. He’s not even looking at them, rather, the mess, taking his sweet time as he does, so very gentle.

You think he might be the danger, not the hell that is the pipework, nor the Grey, nor not the man with the gun

He pulls back, tucking the handkerchief back into the pocket and shallowly inclining his head towards the opening.

With a long look back at you, he crawls out of the hole first. You follow, dizzily. Ever the gentlemen, he offers you a hand as you push your way out of the hell that made you. You take it and feel incredibly guilty for doing so, stumbling to your feet.

He fastens his beret, usually a sign from you to inwardly (or outwardly) mock his silly hat, still watching you. You do not, in fact, mock him. You might be shaking, in fact, and that thought makes you hate yourself more than you could ever despise that ugly navy piece of fabric.

He frowns, and then he gestures to your mouth. You flinch without meaning too. “Huh?”

He mimes speaking, shallowly opening and then hastily closing his mouth

He's right to be concerned.

You haven’t spoken since you two trapped yourselves in the tunnel, after all.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝

Notes: Thank you for reading!! :)))) STUPID. IDIOTS IN LOVE. Him under the guise of medical assistance letting himself touch you... bro isn't slick whatsoever. If you have any ideas, be sure to drop them in my ask box, there is lack of fic on him holy hell. As a side note, we all need the comfort after season two part two holy cow…

[the-meme-monarch]

people can Famously do whatever they want especially when it comes to enjoying media and generally i find this to be a good thing. but unfortunately i am a strange and unusual autistic that generally sticks very very close to canon. all this to say i don’t Get It when people headcanon k_k deltarune as using they/them Only or even she/her Only when he has literally been referred to with ‘he’ by one of the people presumably closest to him(brothers to me)

for the record i think he is he/they. i think all three of them are he/they. maybe even canonically but people fight me on this one (really just capn and kk since sweet has only indirectly been referred to as they like in the following screenshot from the wiki (bc I didn’t want to watch a video of their fight to screenshot and crop flavor text) BUT they’re still called by generally masculine terms alongside the other two like ‘guys’ (ost “almost to the guys”) and ‘young men’ (by seam)) (and they use overly-masculine self-referential pronouns in japanese, along with capn)

like im Fairly Certain the individual of scc are still the only one being lost in the groove in dance x. the “they” in ‘they’re totally lost in the groove’ is still Just One of scc. I don’t believe the fun gang are lost in the groove bc honestly they don’t talk like any of this fight was fun for them HSHSHDNDHDJDJ

also incase it isn’t clear i think it’s chill to add on she/her to k_k’s pronouns. people can famously do whatever they want especially when it comes to enjoying media and generally I think this is good. but saying they use she/her (or they/them) ONLY and not In Conjunction With is where I go “well. no. the game called him he. so he/him has to be part of their pronouns?” and i recognize it’s probably petty and stupid to care about to like any degree but know I don’t say this with hate in my heart

and of course there’s nuance like maybe the idea is they Change their pronouns later on but idk no one ever says this

[choicesficwriterscreations]

March MC of the Month: Evie Ayana

Please welcome March 2024's MC of the Month! Each month, we highlight one MC or OC on our Meet My MC / OC List. They are selected randomly on the Wheel of Names, and eligibility requirements can be found here. We accept MC / OC profiles on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to send yours in!

This month’s MC of the month is…

@cadybear420's Evie Ayana!

More below...

1..In your own words, tell us what you like most about Evie.

It’s hard to choose a specific thing… but most probably her drive to keep moving forward. 

Before coming to Berry, Evie dealt with social anxiety a lot in her old schools. She didn’t have many close friends, she struggled to talk to people she liked, she had a little more insecurity about joining certain social/group activities, etc. And she’d lived in the same house all her life up until moving to Cedar Cove, so she wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about moving up north from the Bay Area and leaving behind what friends and memories and familiar places she did have. 

She does start out as a little more impulsive and “holding herself back” when she first comes to the school– unsure how to respond to Brian at first, unthinkingly introducing herself as “Emma’s wingman” to Caleb, gives Hugh a startled look when they make eye contact at the school assembly. She didn’t have quite as much drive for change yet and wasn’t expecting much from the school, but she was definitely going to stick with the few friends she did make (such as Emma). 

But one thing she did somewhat hope for was that Berry High was a new change of pace. And as Principal Hughs said on the first day assembly in canon, “That’s the great thing about a fresh start. You can be anybody you want to be”. This was perhaps the core motivator for Evie to start changing things. Soon enough, she comes to realize that Berry is sort of this “fresh start” for her, a chance to find herself in a brand new environment. She wants to be someone who is sure of herself, someone who can get shit done. And a school that strives to be welcoming to all is the perfect environment for that. That’s kind of what the OG HSS Trilogy always was to me. High school, but if it were, y’know, actually good. 

So, Evie is partly motivated by the fact that the environment at Berry is much more welcoming, and partly motivated because of the opportunity of a fresh start in a new town. And so she starts to push herself out of her comfort zone a little and soon becomes a lot more outspoken, protective, proactive, and helpful towards others. Evie becomes a lot more confident through her journey at Berry High. 

One major motivator for Evie is that her first friend and the one who takes her under her wing when she’s lost and nervous at the start of her first day, is Emma Hawkins, a socially awkward wallflower. So right away, she has some companionship with someone she can relate to a bit. And not only that, but seeing someone as socially awkward as Emma have no problem extending kindness to her, kind of motivates her to do the same with others. 

Another major green flag for Evie is also probably in her involvement in sports. In Evie’s old high school, she had considered joining football, but was nervous about it due to the team being all guys and not co-ed. Evie is fairly secure in her enjoyment of certain sports and wanted to join the football team at her old school, but was nervous about not being allowed to join and seeming like an idiot for trying to do so. She had heard that some schools might make exceptions for girls who wanted to join, since there generally wasn’t a girls’ football team, but she was still very nervous about the possibility of “sticking out like a sore thumb”. 

But since she was most familiar with Caleb of all the people she saw in the cafeteria and knew him to be a friendly guy, I had her sit with him and the other jocks at lunch that day to maybe get the chance to know more about the football team. Much to both of our surprises and delights, the sports teams at Berry are all co-ed and Caleb and Julian encouraged Evie to join football. And the best part? As she was on football, basketball, and baseball, she was treated like yet another part of the team. Rather than being pathologized, patronized, sensationalized, or tokenized for being a female football player/jock on a team of mostly guys… she was just treated as normal (Sonic Boom Knuckles would be proud, haha). As per canon, Brian did make a few comments to her during that one mini-race, but Caleb nonchalantly shot them down. 

And lest we not forget her beloved Aiden Zhou. He’s passionate and dedicated to his creative craft; but also shy, reserved, socially awkward, and afraid of coming off as a screw-up or a failure in social interactions. A major reason why Evie is so drawn to him (along with her finding him incredibly attractive) is that she sees a lot of herself in him, and she can relate to him. She sees how passionate he is, and that inspires her to do better herself. It inspires her to keep doing better. And as she works to improve herself and move past her own struggles, she can sort of connect with Aiden and help him with his struggles as well, as she understands to some degree what that sort of social anxiety feels like.

2...Do you feel Evie is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

Evie is very based off of how I am, especially when it comes to the little details. She’s a cat lover, she’s a picky eater and especially hates spicy food, she’s fairly into sports and writing, she’s obsessed with scented products and cute stuff, she’s pretty horny-on-main, and a lot more. I had Evie be a jock in each of the three books because I myself was involved in sports when I was in high school (though I was more of a track-and-field/runner and I didn’t really have a lot of experience in football, basketball, or baseball; meanwhile, Evie gets experience in each of those). I can’t play an instrument to save my life, and cheerleading is absolutely not my thing, and so the same applies to Evie. 

But in a more general sense… Evie is partly based off of who I am, and partly based off of the kind of person I aspire to be.

When I was in high school, I sort of dealt with social anxiety a lot, and even now I still struggle with it a fair bit. I did get along with a fair amount of people, but it was on a very superficial level with most of them and so I wouldn’t exactly have considered myself “well-known” back then. So I’ve imagined the same for Evie.

The difference, of course, is that Evie is much more outspoken, social, and heavily proactive in the school community than I was when I was in high school. I mean, I was a bit like that myself every now and then. But with Evie, she sort of gets more opportunities to be that kind of person, and she had somewhat more drive for it. And that’s what allows it to manifest. That doesn’t mean her anxieties go away by any means, she just becomes better at managing them. 

Though, one thing I’ve liked about generally being more shy and reserved is that it did sometimes help me stay a little more aware of boundaries, if that makes sense. Evie is much the same, and although she becomes a more confident person throughout her story, that doesn’t mean she also can’t be aware of boundaries– and that especially shows with how I had her approach her crush on Aiden in the first book.

Evie took a slight interest in Aiden when she first met him; it started out as superficial, but it developed into an actual more deep attraction when he invited her in to listen to him play. She’d sort of push herself to talk to him and hang out with him, but for the most part, she knew not to explicitly flirt with him (not that he’d really have minded in the game but yeah). Occasionally she’d be a little bit forwards with him by accident (see: teaching him how to do “sexy moves” at Brian’s party), but wouldn’t express explicit attraction to him until when he asked her to homecoming and admitted he did like her. 

And once she knew that he liked her back, she was much more comfortable with explicitly making romantic gestures/moves onto him. I’d never gotten that far with any of my high school crushes, but if I had, I certainly would have been the same. (It’s also worth noting that the more I replay the series, the more I feel like Aiden and I both share similar qualities as well, so naturally I envision Evie as someone who can relate to him). 

A final MAJOR way in which Evie and I are very similar is how very GNC we are. I’d say Evie is a lot more openly masc/butch leaning than I am, especially appearance wise (as much as I wish I did, I do not have defined muscles like Evie does, lol). She prefers to keep her hair short; she loves masc clothing like pantsuits, tuxes, boxers, and swim trunks, and she takes pride in her more masc body figure. Similar to me as well, there are a few feminine-associated things (for lack of better wording), such as flowers, glittery/sparkly patterns, heart shapes, general cute stuff, etc., that you can pry from her cold, dead hands. But there are certainly a lot of feminine-associated things she has a distaste for indulging in, such as wearing short shorts or high heels or doing cheerleading– not because they’re “feminine,” but quite simply because they just aren’t her thing. We also both have major bottom dysphoria and would rather die than ever get pregnant. 

3.. What is most important to Evie? What is their motivation in life?

Stability. 

Not just being sure that she can end up in a good point in life and nothing changes from that, but also being sure that if things do change, she will be able to manage it. Even when things are at their worst point, she wants to do what she can to fix the problem and make the situation better. 

For a lot of her life, Evie has been very unsure about what specific thing she’d want to be doing in the future, and while she agrees with the “it’s okay if it takes a little longer for you to decide” sentiment that people tell her, she does also know that she can’t spend her whole life indecisive, and the fact that she’s still figuring things out frustrates her sometimes. And as I’ve mentioned before, her and her dad’s move to Cedar Cove was initially very hard on her. Even as she gets settled in Berry and Cedar Cove, she worries about anything that could possibly disrupt it. 

A big contributor to her drive for stability is her parents’ history. After her dad Scott and Emma’s mom Julia had gone their separate ways with university as per canon, he’d eventually meet a woman in his year but with a different major. Her name was Rani, and he’d fall in love with and marry her after they’d both got their graduate degrees. Rani eventually became pregnant, but it was only a few months into the pregnancy when she realized she was not interested in being a parent. 

Scott, of course, had always wanted to be a dad, but he respected Rani’s decision. So, due to this contrast of life goals, the two divorced on amicable terms. Rani was okay with carrying the baby AKA Evie to term (though Scott was okay with it if she wanted to terminate the pregnancy), and after that she’d simply take on the title of being Evie’s Auntie Rani. And it was heartbreaking for both of them because they were otherwise a perfect match.

Evie knew the full story growing up, and while she did not resent Rani at all for leaving, knowing that story had amplified her own cautiousness– particularly when it came to her own romance. She’d crushed on Aiden, wanted to be official with him, and fell in love with him long before he did with her for each of those points, but she didn’t want to push anything too suddenly onto him. Often, she’d wait until moments, such as when Aiden confessed to liking her after asking her to homecoming or when he confessed he loved her at prom, before she’d start taking things further. She wouldn’t express romantic gestures and attraction to him until after he said he liked her. She wouldn’t confess her love to him until after he confessed to her. 

That doesn’t mean she’d never initiate, though. She’s the one who took Aiden outside to talk about becoming official, even though he ended up being the one to ask her to be his girlfriend. After their moment on Hearst’s rooftop, she had started making plans to ask him to be her date to homecoming (but of course, Aiden beat her to it). And she was the one to (as per my headcanons) dip him in their first dance at homecoming and (as per canon) initiate their first kiss during that dance. 

And make no mistake, all those moments– learning Aiden liked her, having a steady relationship with him that year, to the point of them becoming official in late February and him confessing he loved her at the end of prom, and seeing Aiden become a more confident and self-assured person throughout their relationship… she was incredibly happy about all of it. But in the back of her mind, she sometimes couldn’t help but think it to be too good to be true. Sometimes she feared that they’d end up the same way her dad and her Auntie Rani did: a seemingly perfect couple at first, all until one singular but major area of incompatibility. 

Later on in their relationship, she would start to become fussy over making sure Aiden actually enjoyed what he was doing with her, telling him she didn’t want to force him to do anything he didn’t want to do. This would become a point of contention between them, as Aiden would be a little upset at Evie not being fully sure in his choices. But in the end, they’d be able to work it out together. To this day she still isn’t fully sure about what she’d do if she and Aiden ended up separating, but she would become better at being able to manage any difficulties or disagreements between them. She would do what she could to better the situation. The two would eventually get married (Evie being the one to propose), having talked about it prior and both being sure that they were happy with each other.

As for everything else in her life? She does slowly become more welcoming to change. As of now, I don’t imagine her going through a lot of sudden changes in her life, but she does become more comfortable with the idea. A year after they marry, Aiden and Evie move out of Evie’s old house and into a cozy apartment in the Bay Area, and then move back into Cedar Cove but in their own home when they decide they want to have kids. Events like these where Evie does have a bit more control over the situation, do help her get used to the idea of major change. 

4.. What are Evie's biggest pet peeves/dislikes?

Evie loathes gender essentialism, gender complementarianism, TERFs, and the like (Then again, any person with common sense would loathe those things, haha). But especially as someone who is very openly and proudly GNC, she just absolutely loathes them. She hasn’t experienced a lot of direct bigotry from TERFs herself, but to put it briefly, she’s been paying attention to their behaviors, and she’s not having any of their bullshit. Especially not with their blatantly two-faced behaviors towards GNC cis people (especially cis female athletes with even the smallest bit of “masculine” features, AKA people like her3). All the more reason why she sings her praises to Berry for having co-ed sports.

For something on a lighter note… she can’t stand spicy food despite her South Asian heritage. A bit of mild spice is alright, but very spicy food is just… she doesn’t get the appeal at all. She’s generally a very picky eater, even being averse to most South Asian dishes. And overly spicy food is probably the bane of her picky eater existence. 

I imagine she just also dislikes… bullies in general. In her old schools, she would get bullied quite a bit, but she never quite knew how to stand up to them. So at Berry, she does try to change that, starting with standing up for her friends (like Emma) who get bullied. She aspires to be a protective girlfriend to Aiden and an overall reliable friend. It’s not always easy– such as when Isa and the hall monitors screw over Aiden and band and cheer, when band and cheer turn on the basketball team, or when Max and Kara frame her for sabotage. But she doesn’t let it stop her. She always tries to get through it, one way or another. 

5.. If Evie could change one thing - anything - what would it be?

I’m not fully sure, honestly. I imagine there are lots of things she’d want to change. 

Although it’s a bit more general, Evie would change… a lot of her past. She has way too many moments of “I look back on this thing I did in the past, and I fucking cringe at it.” She knows she’s grown from all that and has become a much better person, but it’s just hard for her to not feel bad about herself over her past mistakes. 

For something that’s a little more specific, her parental situation is something she’s sometimes wished she could change. To reiterate, she does not resent Rani for leaving and understands why she did. But there have been times when she’s wished that Rani and Scott never separated. From what Scott had told her, Rani sounded freaking awesome to her, and she imagined she’d have loved having her as a mom, along with Scott as her dad.

Rani would sometimes visit them, taking on more of a title of being Evie’s Auntie. But she wouldn’t visit often because it could be very awkward knowing the past, especially so when she and Scott hadn’t fully moved past their feelings for each other. 

Evie and Scott have had a very healthy relationship, but the situation with Rani has created some confusion for both of them. With Scott, he’s often feeling guilt. He’d told Rani that he was okay if she didn’t want to carry the pregnancy to term– Evie knows this and understands, but he sometimes feels guilty for having felt that way about Evie, even though it was before she was born. But he also sometimes feels guilty about giving Rani a pregnancy she ended up not wanting and seeing her carry that pregnancy to term even after realizing that, even though she had agreed to it at first and agreed to carry it to term anyways. 

I headcanon a big part of why he’s extra sweet to Evie, on top of her being his daughter, is the fact that he sort of considers himself lucky to have ended up with Evie. Rani chose to carry the pregnancy to term, even though both she and Scott were well aware that she was in every right not to. He’s always wanted to be a dad, and he got just that. So he tries his best to not take her decision for granted. 

With Evie, she’s certainly fine with having just Scott, but she’s known the story of Scott and Rani’s separation ever since she was very young and it’s hard for her not to feel like she missed out on having Rani as a mother figure. But she also sometimes feels guilty for feeling that way, knowing Rani did not want to be a mother. 

At one point or another though, she does come to terms with her parental situation. Rani would come to visit more often when she could as she and Scott were eventually able to move on from each other. 

6.. What is Evie’s favorite quote or song?

I don’t think Evie can really pick just one song, haha. Though Evie can't play an instrument for shit, let alone compose a song and a lot of the musical terminology Aiden uses is mostly just pure jargon nonsense to her… she's quite the enthusiast for good songs and soundtracks. 

She excitedly raves to Aiden about her favorite soundtracks from movies, video games, TV shows, etc. Often, she'll even recommend a show or movie to him partly on the basis of it having a bomb-ass soundtrack and almost 100% of the time, he will enjoy it, and they'll rave about the best parts of the soundtrack together. 

So it’s a little hard for Evie to pick just one song (or one quote, for that matter). Probably something Aiden composed for her, but I’m not sure. 

7.. Is there anything else you’d like to share about Evie? 

I guess I’d like to ramble a bit about how fun it is to build the character of my OG HSS MC, both within the game and outside of it. 

In Choices, I generally tend to prefer MCs with a more open-ended backstory and especially choices in what kind of personality they have and how they respond/behave/act. I know even the most choice-based story can’t account for every single granular detail about what we want for our MCs, but most of the time I just like being able to decide *who* my MC is whenever fitting. I like being able to make choices for the MC, and create my own backstory for them that sort of informs said choices, maybe even make two different versions of the MC that feel like completely different people from one another. (Truth be told, I’m a fan of any MC that’s allowed to have a spine and be proactive in the story, but the ones that are flexible in their character score extra major points with me). 

OG HSS is definitely a series that allows for stuff like that, which is part of why both the trilogy and the MC are my favorites of all Choices. There’s a lot of variety in the kind of story experience you can have, and probably only two or three moments where default dialogue made me go “Evie would not say that”. Honestly, I don’t think the series would have had nearly as much of an impact if MC had only one activity they could do, or one singular specific backstory for Scott and their mom and their old school. 

Although I haven’t really played as a MC other than “Evie Ayana” in any of my 7 playthroughs, I have tried a couple of different choices and routes for her. Once I’ve had her as a band kid instead of a jock, and I loved all the extra moments she could get with Aiden. Twice I’ve had her romance Michael, and as much as Evie would be attracted to him, they do not have all that much romantic chemistry (and so I’m making a new HSS MC for his route). One time I’ve even had Evie try and side against her own team at the basketball game in Book 2… and oh my God, it was so puke-inducingly out-of-character for Evie that I had to scrub it from my HSS screenshots history. 

Once I’ve deliberately made mostly bad choices for her (outside of her activity), and it was quite interesting to see outcomes such as losing the baseball game, losing homecoming crown and guest-of-honor-– and most notably, how she can lose her tryouts spot to her respective Hearst rival if she’s been mostly awful to the Hearst kids, even if she’s otherwise good at the actual tryouts. Like hello? I can make my MC not be nice? And face consequences for it? I like. I’ve sometimes seen the HSS MC get flak for being “too perfect” or “too much of a fantasy” or “not having much personality”, and I’m just like, “Honey, with all due respect… they’re only perfect because you made them that way.”

I’ll admit, with the most recent playthrough I did to record Evie’s official storyline, I did make the choices that would lead to the “good” outcomes. But with most of it, I was just making whatever choices felt right for the kind of character I wanted for Evie and then let things take their course. I wanted her to be someone who was fairly good at her sports. I wanted her to become someone who tries to step up and be a leader, and someone who is outspoken about her opinions and stays true to them, but also knows her boundaries. But sometimes she can act without thinking and that does make her very self-conscious a lot of the time, even as she becomes more confident throughout her time at Berry. Some of it was more intentional– I did want her to be fairly competent at her activities. But other stuff like the homecoming/prom crowns felt more like bonus things for her. 

Fun Fact: during my most recent playthrough, where I was recording the official choices and outcomes in the story for Evie, I kind of wanted a way to represent her lack of experience in baseball since I headcanon it’s Evie’s first time doing the sport. So what I did was I just took my glasses off and backed away from the phone screen a bit when the minigame choices were in session. And Evie did miss a few of the throws, but performed mostly successfully in the end, getting the tryouts spot and winning the baseball game.

I’ve actually gone through a couple of different “canons” for Evie, throughout each of my 7 playthroughs of the story. I’ve tried different routes and options for the sake of trying them out, but there are quite a few choices I’d imagined as “canon” for her that are now different. When I first played the trilogy, Evie was actually named “Cady Heron” after the main character of Mean Girls, my favorite HS-based movie (Scott calling her “Cady-bear” all the time is how I came up with my username). She had the blonde beachy waves hairstyle in the first book, and was a bit more openly flirtatious with the characters she liked (Aiden, Michael, and Maria), she told Koh’s secret to Isa out of panic and thinking that it would get Isa off of Koh’s back. I imagined her having figured out clear goals for herself by the end of the first day: take down Brian and Zoe, and get with Aiden+Michael+Maria. 

But upon developing her character, I was sort of trying to make her a bit more like me. With that in consideration, Evie would have been someone who wouldn’t be so openly forward and would take secret-keeping pretty seriously. In my “Evie’s official choices” playthrough I did have her slip the secret to Isa, but it felt so wrong, and so I had to restart the chapter right after the choice in order to choose otherwise. 

And I am planning to make a couple more OG HSS MCs too. One will be a male MC named Alan Parke, a cheerleader who is a total diva– he’ll romance either Maria or Emma, and he’ll be very flirty, preppy, and pompous. Book 3 would be a sort of a character arc for him where he may have to set his self-aggrandizing habits aside as he comes to sympathize with fellow male cheerleader Kieran, with whom he’s competing in tryouts. Another will be a female MC named Violet Jones, the one I’ll have to romance Michael. She’ll be a lot more suave and no-nonsense– she hates self-policing and is a lot more quick to call people out on their crap whenever she can, and will certainly have a lot more romantic chemistry with Michael than Evie did. 

And I’m definitely gonna have one or two MCs that are utter screw-ups at everything in the game– crap at their activities, they don’t win the dance titles, they’re cold to the Hearst kids. And I also wanna do a couple of playthroughs that switch activities between books. Some that are more slow-burn in their romances. I’m even planning an “AU/alternate timeline” playthrough where Evie tries band (and is mostly crap at it). Agh, there are so many route combinations I wanna do in HSS! 

Bottom line: it’s just really fun to give my MCs their personalities and make them feel like my own, and it especially applies with Evie. It brings me joy to build her character and share/discuss it with the fandom here (as well as seeing how others build their MCs too)! 

[saturnniidae]

Rotbtd height and body headcanons

Rapunzel, 6': I see her as fairly tall, like imo she'd need to be so her hairs not dragging on the floor as much, also in my mind she's very willowy

Cass, 5'5: Raps' short, buff butch gf that can easily pick her up and throw her over her shoulder (though it'd be a bit awkward bc no matter how strong you are, if you're shorter than the person you're carrying balance is difficult. As if that'd stop her though)

Jack, 5'7: (I think this is actually pretty close to his canon height) not a complete stick, lean muscle from manual labor when he was alive, but still not as physically strong as say, Merida

Merida, 5'2: I see her as short and stocky since she like climbs cliffs and does archery (as well as sword fighting) , so really good core and back/shoulder muscles

Hiccup, 5'4: Short trans boy and tall trans girl solidarity with Astrid. He'll always be a scrawny little nerd to me, but I won't deny he's definitely built up some lean muscle from working in the forge + training with Astrid. I also think he's weirdly flexible, (like, probably in the hypermobility way) and it freaks people out he also still has like. Weirdly gangly limbs for his height

Astrid, 5'10: She's only a bit taller than in canon, but she's heavier and very muscular due to her constant training and diet. Buffstrid is REAL and she's beautiful

[thesoulspulse]

Wow, it sure feels great making digital artwork again! I was trying to decide what to make first when I remembered the recent Wulf concept sketches I drew so here you go! An AU version of him with a few minor changes that still sticks to the canon version fairly closely. I'm just not a fan of his retractable claws since that feels like more of a cat thing, not wolves.

Original:

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

I have no idea why my brain came up with this but seeing your newest art made me just think of rdr1 John having to the fight the evil Micah+Bill+Javier polycule as a boss instead of just Bill or Javier ☠☠☠

I love that idea and I also thought about it while making F of a Feather art.

To amuse the idea, I imagine bill and Javier split off on their own when they usually would at the end of Chapter 6. They don’t want to stick around because neither really has it out for Arthur, not even Bill (who at this point is with Javier on “holy shit? Dutch is actually a bad person?? This can’t be?”).

Micah tho wants to get his last laugh at Arthur regardless of what ending it is.

Once Micah is done with his Arthur murder (with both eyes or one less eye), he ends up finding Javier and Bill who coincidentally had set up a small camp with the few things they had from the abandoned camp. Knowing sticking together is their best bet, they stay as a triad (that comes with all the good and bad dynamics amongst them).

Javier keeps up moral in the few ways he can. He would play guitar but that’s gone. He also is the main provider when it comes to food. Micah can have his preferences, but when it’s fish or starvation, Micah begrudgingly finds a silver lining to eating fish. Bill too can hunt, he isn’t as effective at it.

Javier is also a tad shell shocked after Dutch revealed his true nature… they all are a little stunned. They need a moment to think about this and stare at the horizon in silence.

Bill is the muscle of the group and doesn��t need to be very clever when he has Javier and Micah putting their brains together. Not that Bill is an idiot but he is good at following commands.

He is also the space heater for cold nights. Like previous mentioned, he can hunt. He goes for deer and just explodes them meaning pelts is a no go to make money. Bill can at least intimidate. He also makes for a good guard since he is pretty alert and doesn’t mind standing or sitting and minding his own business as long as he gets to be involved in other missions.

Micah is the pseudo leader (the others like to think they’re equally as much leaders as Micah). He has the cunning to be considered the diplomat of the three (tho that is a stretch), he’s the one who gets them the most money with stagecoach robberies and the sort.

His willingness to kill was discouraged at first, especially by Javier, who had a period of black and white judgement after the Dutch Situation where he was convinced them murdering anymore people made them just as two faced as Dutch. That statement crumbled little by little as the three of them became more willing to kill if it kept them alive.

I do think Micah is unable to go without expanding their group and forming his little gang as seen in the epilogue. I’m sure the structure is akin to canon, what with there being a higher rank of people close to Micah and then the goons who are just disposable man power.

Dutch isn’t there so… I suppose Micah wouldn’t be shot and killed. Javier and Bill certainly aren’t going to kill him. That would make for an unsatisfactory end to the in game epilogue but eh. Basically Micah and John have their gun fight because they must settle the score.

I feel like both reach a stalemate; Sadie has Micah at gunpoint, Bill had Sadie at gunpoint, and Javier had John at gunpoint. No one wants the other dead, really. Javier especially tells John how he would have sided with him if things were different.

They come to an agreement that results in John and Sadie being escorted off the mountain to Charles who is fairly confused why John and Sadie are being kindly helped off the mountain by the gang leaders they swore to kill.

It’s not a happy ending, or even a great ending, but it’s something. The triad’s gang is killed until it’s just the three of them and based off of Micah’s age, it’s evident he likely won’t be rebuilding a whole new gang any time soon.

For RDR1 I can’t decide if it would be much the same (the triad broke up and are individually plucked off by John) or if it would be like what you said of John being up against three antagonists in one group. Either way it would be pretty neat in my opinion.

Sigh, I love toxic old men Yaoi.

[sassenach082]

i'm curious: since mav is bradley's legal guardian (permanent, I assume) does that mean he's probably on shore assignments (or top gun, i guess) for the majority of his naval career instead of what he does in the original canon (quits top gun, never goes back to teach after that first time, presumably is on deployment a lot before he gets in trouble for something and gets put in the test pilot program?) that's an interesting prospect to me since it seems similar to a lot of pre-tgm fic, where mav just... like, stayed at top gun after '86, and never left, but obvi in most of that, he didn't have a kid to take care of. i mean, things probably change a lot after bradley... maybe cuts ties in the 00s?? if the pulling papers things still happens, but with all the family support and no mention of carole ever explicitly telling mav in the beginning about not letting bradley fly, i'm also curious how that plays out too since it's also probably v canon-divergent. and also — how do u think ice's career trajectory goes? ive seen many takes on how he got to compacflt lol

Hey nonnie! Whew, buckle up, I have a lot of thoughts.

They're going to be at Top Gun for a while, but they won't be staying there. Ice will come back later on, but Mav will be doing other things. This is going to be long and rambly so if you want to read (and aren't bothered by vague spoilers) more under the cut!

With wars coming up they're going to be shifted around back to active duty flying, particularly in Desert Storm. Mav figures out a way to make it work but he refuses to let Ice go without him, and Bradley gets it because he's a military kid. They also aren't going to always be together; actually, they spend quite a few years apart, which is going to hurt my heart to write.

They try to stick to the West Coast. I don't know how much you know about the Navy, but the two main hubs are San Diego and Norfolk, Virginia. In real life they shifted Top Gun out to Fallon, Nevada, but since in the canon of the movie it's still in Fightertown it will be staying there. Most Naval Aviators on the west coast are actually stationed at Lemoore, a base in the middle of California which is a bit of a shithole if my cousin Jay is to be believed, lol, while the east coast aviator hub is Oceania, Virginia. Aviators go through cycles of on a ship, leaving a ship, and then into fleet replacement training to go back on a ship. As soon as my cousin the aviator gets a good night sleep I'm going to pick his brain more about it. If anyone reading this is an aviator or knows one hit me up! I adore my cousin but talking is not his superpower. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Anyway to answer your question it's going to be a bit roundabout. IRL you have to have a plan for your dependents in case of deployment and Mav gets it figured out with Ice's help as for who will watch Bradley which will be a whole other can of worms but I don't think Mav or Ice are the type to watch their friends go off to war without them. I haven't fleshed it all the way out but Mav is going to CHOOSE the test pilot path, mostly because it keeps him close to Bradley, and he's going to be doing some special ops shit because in my brain that's literally the only reason the kids in the movie have no fucking clue who he is even though they've all been to Top Gun and walked past his picture EVERY DAY in the atrium, haha.

He's still Mav so yes he will still be pissing off Admirals.

As for Ice, I haven't figured out exactly how I want to get him there I'm still doing research. I do know that they have to command ships so at some point he'll get a carrier most likely because he's Ice and who the hell better to hand a carrier to, in my opinion. He leaves the sky fairly early in his career if you look at the whole span of it, partly because flying is something he loves but doesn't define him like it does for Mav, and this way he can keep Mav up there doing what he loves while he also gets to climb the ladder. It's a lot of politics which I hate so I'll be grumpy about having to research all that shit but I mean COME ON, it's Ice. Of course he gets a fucking Fleet. I also headcanon that the Joint Chiefs are beating his door down and he's just like that Obama eye meme saying THEN PERISH because he likes being able to go to the ocean to escape them.

Anyway back to the Navy, not sure if you or anyone who is into Top Gun knows this, but Ice is quite literally AS HIGH as you can go in the Navy. There hasn't been a Fleet Admiral (with the five stars) since Nimitz died in '66 and has only ever been held by four dudes: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey Jr. (names you may recognize if you know your WWII Naval history but I digress). So basically four-star Admiral is IT, like that is the top of the ladder, unless you get asked to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff and work directly with the president. Tom likes to be in charge of things so I think the Joint Chiefs would be hard for him - they have no direct control over the Navy at all and it's a desk job in Washington D.C.

Maybe one day he could become the Secretary of the Navy, but I don't know if I can see Tom doing that, tbh. They have to be 5 years removed from military service at minimum. So I dunno. Still up in the air as far as Tom! Right at this moment he's being an asshole on an aircraft carrier in 1987, so there's that.

[the-s1lly-corner]

You points

I'd like to hear some of your general headcanons for itward! Any and all headcanons you can think of >:)

General Itward hcs!

I got too silly guys

This is gonna be long so buckleup

Side note, my silly little goofy baking marathon has begun, so requests are REALLY gonna slow down today and tomorrow and likely Tuesday as well

I current have multiple pies in the oven as we speak <\3 (note from the future i was typing for so long the first batch of pies finished and the second group just got put in)

My bodies gonna hate me for this but imma get paid (yaaaay!!!!)

Love to think that itward is self sufficient. He grows his own stuff and scavenges for any metal parts he needs what whatever (his ship, a project, ect)

As such he also builds and maintains his own stuff; the ship is the most obvious thing! But I like to think nearly everything in the ship itself was either made by him or found abandoned !

Its canon that he loves forks, both stated in the character sheet thing KMG posted as well as the copious amounts of forks decorating the main area of his ship! I mean he literally has a wall covered in forks! I can easily see him having even more forks stashed away somewhere

Torn between headcannoning him to just have them in a jumbled heap in a drawer somewhere... and headcannoning that he sorts them by size, material, color, and style... both seem so in character for him.. hmm..

I can say for certain that he has a box somewhere full of random stuff hes collected and it's not at all neat and organized. Rocks, gears, bolts, sticks, glass vials, jewels, and so on! The "oo pretty I think I'll keep this and use it for later (never uses it for later)" mindset! I like calling those lil trinket boxes "crow boxes"

"The one many children talk about", as said by the man himself. So fran and the twins arent the only ones who have interacted with him... dad of dozens of children

I was gonna go somewhere with that previous point but I genuinely forgot what I was gonna say

Has made stuffed animals and dolls at least once for all of his kids. And yes, that includes Clara and Mia, at least before they tried to kill him... reluctantly makes bunnies for kids who ask

Speaking of bunnies, since it's been proven that itward wasnt bluffing or lying about his fear of them (KMG made a post showing off a type of Kamala that basically makes you addicted to their candy, making you eat them til your guts explode) (which... is horrifying and makes me wonder, did itward see that happen to someone? Perhaps one of his kids? A friend? Or did he not and the concept just scares him so much?) It's a little funny that itward has a bunny plushie on his ship

Sad hc but I like to think it belonged to one of his past children and as much as hes afraid of it he doesnt have the heart to give it away

While we're on the topic of sad stuff, I dont think itward can shed tears. So in place of them, his bones start to rattle a little

While I also headcannon that his bones rattle when hes nervous or flustered, and perhaps on the rare occasion that hes angry, it does happen when hes sad enough

Okay no more sad, I like to think his hat steams when he gets real excited about something or embarrassed. The top of it just. Pops open and theres the steam billowing out

I dunno I think it suits him and his aesthetic...

Stole this idea from someone else but he can purr; it's mostly involuntary imo and if you listen close enough you can hear his bones vibrating and clacking against one another

His eyes glow in the dark! Not too bright, it's fairly dim, but it's enough for him to see around and for you to see where he is in a dark room!

Creaky bones. He is OLD! probably VERY OLD! So it would make sense his bones click and make noise thanks to the general age.. wear and tear you know? Especially prominent in his spine and ankles

Has a habit of clacking his teeth/jaw when speaking, as well as when hes just. Not doing anything

Prone to fiddling with his rings (!! Will get to that in a second!) As well as the accessories on his coat; and sometimes, even his hat!

Okay the rings! I like to hc that itward makes his own accessories too ! That includes the gems and chains on his coat (heck, hes probably made his own clothes!) And I like to hc that he sometimes wears rings !

Sometimes sells his stuff; more likely to sell shoes and clothing, as well as his machines and services! Sure he mostly lives off stuff hes found or grew, but theres some stuff that he cant just find or grow.. plus its generally a good idea to have some money somewhere

I'm pretty sure hes good friends with palontras and ziar (given him and palontras work together to help Fran and the painting of ziar in itwards ship) but I also like to think he is friends with the wizard and cogwind!

Mostly because I wish we got more stuff for both of them... also him and cogwind can bond over their interests!

Does not stay in one place for long, given that KMGs labels him as a wanderer, but assuming he keeps Fran around to raise her I think he anchors down to one place... well not ANCHOR but like, cutting down on traveling at least a bit, especially in the beginning so fran can fully come to terms with everything shes learned (the truth of her parents death, the grieving process, learning she may or may not be part of something larger if memory serves me right, it's been a while since I played the game, as well as being shot.. like yeah she was healed physically but like imagine how shes gonna feel when that fact she was shot mentally sinks in) ... cant have her bouncing between different realities and the spaces in between them constantly

Ponders

Listens to Antonios (giant old ant dude) old music, I think! Probably has a bunch of old vynlls laying around somewhere

Frequently has to clean his hands, especially his fingers since hes always working on SOMETHING, he doesnt wanna walk around with gunk in the grooves of his fingers. Very yucky very gross and very un-gentleman..ly...

I keep trying to wrap this post up but I keep remembering hcs/coming up with new ones

Anyways COMMITS to the bit when hes playing a game with Fran, or really any kid hes looking over. Tea party? Hes gonna bust out his very best manners. Yes he will wear a tiara if its offered to him. It will go over his hat, of course. Playing doctor? Oh he'll moan n cry about how sick hes feeling, please help him! Ect ect, things like that!

Sometimes makes shadow puppets and tells stories. Both in the form of little shadow theatres, but sometimes he will use his own hands and project the shadows onto the wall!

Very good at coming up with stories on the fly

Also very very good at comforting people, I think. Hes been around for a while and he just OOZES comfort

So if you have a nightmare or struggle with anxiety, itward wont let you just suffer and be scared, hes gonna do what suits you best to calm down; distractions, holding, taking, quiet, grounding, ect ect ect anything you need

[anonymouspuzzler]

today in puzz: i thought really hard about power-scaling and categorizing the different capabilities of psychonauts-verse psychic powers and made charts about it. please click the readmore to see a lot of rambling thoughts and also the charts

first of all i genuinely don't know why you decided to click through but i'm impressed. second of all let's start with the blank template chart i made (feel free to use for your own blorbos and such. i set it free) and touch on the explanations

[Image ID: A chart with seven sections, each with a bolded handwritten section title, a handwritten explanation of the section below, and five outlined star shapes to the right. The stars are labeled, from left to right, in handwritten text: "low", "below avg." (NOTE: "avg." short for "average"), "avg.", "above avg.", and "high". The seven sections and explanations are as follows:

Raw Psychic Power: Raw potential, regardless of application. Specialization: Capability in chosen signature power(s). Adaptability: Ability to learn new powers or apply them in new ways. Stability: Mental soundness and ability to preserve it. Mental Defense: Ability to resist outside psychic forces (ie. projection, Psylirium...). Mental Control: Ability to control their own mindscape. Non-Psychic Abilities: Capability in physical, mental, etc. abilities (ie. acrobatics). (NOTE: In this context I'm considering this specifically in ways the non-psychic abilities can be used in complement with and/or to otherwise enhance otherwise separate psychic abilities.)

End ID.]

So this is the chart! While it wasn't my explicit aim, I kind of focused on something, like, the Psychonauts as an organization might use to assess potential or existing agents - categories that would be useful to measure and consider in the field and such. I did three quick off-the-cuff samples with specific characters too, ranging from stuff we know pretty darn well to more speculative, but I tried to stick to "things we see fairly explicitly and unarguably in canon", which is why you'll see a couple things marked "insufficient data" - I'll explain my reasoning there and for everything below.

[Image ID: The previous chart with a picture of Raz from Psychonauts 2 pasted to the left, and the stars for each section colored in to represent "score" in the given category. These "scores" are as follows:

Raw Psychic Power: 3 stars (average) Specialization: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Adaptability: 5 stars (high) Stability: 4 stars (above average) Mental Defense: 4 stars (above average) Mental Control: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Non-Psychic Abilities: 5 stars (high)

End ID.]

So here's our favorite little guy Raz! He seemed like an obvious candidate to assess with this chart since we see so much of his powers in action in a close-up, extensive way. The "raw psychic power" is admittedly debatable - you could probably argue for it to be above average and I'd be like "yeah". I mostly set it as average because some dialogue implies his use of his powers isn't particularly refined/spectacular, and comparing to say, the other campers or interns suggests as such as well. (For the record, for comparison, I'd consider the likes of Sasha, Milla and Oleander above-average in terms of raw power, and the likes of Ford, Maligula and Bob Zanotto on the high end.)

Where Raz really shines is his adaptability, which I set to the max rank accordingly - he picks up powers super fast and utilizes more distinct, unique psychic abilities than pretty much any other character we see. The next closest are the likes of Sasha, Milla, and Oleander, who seem to all use the "basic" suite of powers (TK, shielding, levitation, and PSI-blasts) at a high level with ease, on top of their specializations and/or more advanced capabilities. It's also implied that Raz is using the powers he picks up in unexpected and interesting ways, too, most notably in how the others react when he starts using Mental Connection. At least part of this is because of his other big high point, non-Psychic abilities - it's very clear and textual that Raz being an accomplished acrobat is a huge part of his success and plays a large part in how he approaches and uses his powers.

The other few categories... specialization, I'd argue we don't really see any concrete evidence of him "specializing" in a particular power or powers; in a lot of ways he's such a capable jack-of-all-trades because he doesn't seem to have any particular standout specializations. It's entirely possible he just hasn't had a moment of "clicking" with a particular power in the Three Whole Days we see him learning, though, so I've marked it "insufficient data" rather than low. The stability rating should probably also be "insufficient data", but like. The fact that the kid's still smiling after the Fucking Three Days he had is enough evidence for me to earn that 4-star stability rating. Mental defense, we see at the very start of the first game that he's able to resist Oleander's mental probing, and he's the least effected by the Psilirium in RoR outside Coach, so I think it's safe to say he's a bit of a standout there. Mental control, "insufficient data" again because we never actually see his mental world without external influences - first the interference from Coach/Loboto/Linda in the brain tumbler, then the Meat Circus when he and Oleander get their mindscapes all tangled. As such, I don't think we can make any kind of fair assessment of Raz's control of her his own mental world.

speaking of Oleander, though...

[Image ID: The previous chart with a picture of Coach Oleander from Psychonauts 2 pasted to the left, and the stars for each section colored in to represent "score" in the given category. These "scores" are as follows:

Raw Psychic Power: 4 stars (above average) Specialization: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Adaptability: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Stability: 1 star (below average) Mental Defense: 5 stars (high) Mental Control: 5 stars (high) Non-Psychic Abilities: 2 stars (below average)

End ID.]

aw yeah baby it's Morry Time. let me explain my Visions. Raw psychic power - as mentioned earlier, I'd consider him above average, alongside Sasha and Milla. alongside just what we see of his powers in-game, I'd argue for the three of them to have the kind of separation they do from the rank-and-file Psychonauts agents, they must be a bit outside the norm power-wise as well. (yeah you could argue that they're separated from Motherlobe NPC #5 because they're main characters but whatever i'm approaching this in-universe it's more fun.)

as you can see we've got two sections for Morry that are marked "insufficient data", both of which probably require some explanation from me. Specialization I marked as this because I think the info we get here is conflicting and circumstantial - the first game doesn't really suggest Coach has any particular psychic specialty (you could argue maybe PSI-shield based on how you get it and some other circumstantial stuff about Oleander - it's what I like to imagine is his specialty - but it's hardly super foundational evidence), and the second game kind of retroactively implies it's PSI-punch (or at least that Coach signed off on Raz's merit badge for it), but we literally never see him use it. As such, insufficient data, I says! Adaptability, you might be able to argue it's low or below average since all the powers we see him use are pretty in line with the "standard" we see for everyone, but we also don't see him use a lot of his powers nor where or how he picked them up, and as I argued above for Raz, just the fact that he can use multiple powers capably at all is noteworthy. So, "insufficient data" seems most fair.

Now let's look at where Morry really shines - Mental Defense and Mental Control! Everything we see suggests he's really exceptional in both these regards. On mental defense, he's literally the only character we see resisting Psilirium to such an extreme degree, and even outside of that we see circumstantial evidence of him being able to keep folks out of his head - the two times Raz gets in, the first time he's explicitly invited in, and the second Morry's a disembodied brain stalling out by the side of the road. Mental control, similarly, he stands out - he, Sasha, and Milla I would argue are all above average on that front, being able to partition their minds and memories enough to create safe training grounds for the campers, but Oleander's also actively creating false memories to be discovered and passively maintaining his mental construct for the campers even when he's actively doing other shit (compare and contrast the vast majority of people basically going temporarily comatose when their mind is entered and like. damn morry).

On the flip side, the places where Coach really falters. Stability - This One Is Obvious I Think. the man processed his trauma so bad he kidnapped a lot of people about it and even after addressing that his solution was to keep doing the same exact thing but kidnap people less. That man aint well. Non-psychic abilities, well - take your pick. This is a himbo who can't swim. He doesn't know shit and he's a coward and he's bad at talking to people. Ironically, I genuinely think he's in the best possible place could be as head of Whispering Rock - he's genuinely protective and seems all right with kids, so he seems much better placed as a coach than as an agent.

anyway now that I've laid all that out perhaps you will allow me a more Speculative Argument.

[Image ID: The previous chart with a picture of Doctor Loboto from Psychonauts 2 pasted to the left, and the stars for each section colored in to represent "score" in the given category. These "scores" are as follows:

Raw Psychic Power: 5 stars (high) Specialization: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Adaptability: All stars colored grey, with an asterisk noting "insufficient data". Stability: 1 star (below average) Mental Defense: 4 stars (above average) Mental Control: 4 stars (above average) Non-Psychic Abilities: 4 stars (below average)

End ID.]

if you're here, I assume you follow my blog. you knew this was coming.

ANYWAY! My Argument: Specialization and Adaptability, not enough data to say anything. We literally see him actively using powers for like, 30 seconds tops, which isn't enough to say if he has a particular specialization or if he's picking up multiple powers/using them in interesting ways. (You might be able to argue he's a TK specialist based on circumstantial evidence, but that's not particularly foundational, so I won't be arguing it as fact.) Stability, just like Oleander, obvious - he's not, like, well. At all. (I could argue, funny enough, that he's actually less stable post-Raz's interference in RoR, but that's a whole 'nother post.) Non-psychic abilities, again obvious, in the absence of access to his powers they're the only abilities he's been able to develop, and they're nothing to sneeze at! unstable though he be, he's an undeniably accomplished bio-mechanical engineer, and there's enough circumstantial evidence to indicate he's pretty physically capable as well (he survived the fall from the tower in the first game, for one, and need I mention the implication that he swam to the Rhombus of Ruin at least in part. fully clothed. carrying a suitcase)

Raw psychic power - and again I emphasize that this is raw potential, whether it's utilized or not - I think Loboto is really exceptional there just based on what little we see of his powers. Like, he's using telekinesis in a natural and fairly refined way as an infant, and there's enough circumstantial evidence on the level of his mental control and defenses (which I'll get into), as well as stuff like "whatever the Hell he did with Linda and Crispin and the like" that even without any conscious access to his powers, he's still using them pretty effectively. I genuinely think Loboto would be on the level of some of the strongest psychics we've seen if he could still use his powers.

and speaking of "I'll Get Into That", Mental Defense and Mental Control! this is where we see the most substantial evidence of loboto's powers, IMO - you'll see I marked him one down from oleander on both, who, as I detailed above, I think is very exceptional on both fronts. we see Loboto being very mentally defended in the first game, with Raz totally unable to get into his head, and if we take his words as truth Loboto somehow protected Crispin from psychic projection as well. Raz isn't able to get in his head alone until RoR (during which time he is Literally Surrounded By Psilirium, The Rock Which Dampens Psychic Abilities, Which Literally Only Oleander Has Been Shown Able To Resist In Full), and in Psychonauts 2's version of his mind it takes the efforts of Five Trained Psychics, who are also functionally hypnotizing him with a false mental construct, and even then it takes Literal Minutes for him to notice the ruse and start circumventing and ejecting them. this guy's got something going on and Sasha's theory that it's the fault of Loboto's employer doesn't hold much water because Loboto's employer is a complete non-psychic.

on the same front, mental control! this one's a little shakier, because in some respects it seems like the lobotomy has had a significant impact on this for Loboto (obviously in him being unable to use his powers anymore, at least consciously, but also in things like him being unable to access his mental compass and recognize right from wrong until Raz interferes). but at the same time, even with that, he's able to exude enough mental control to fight back against Sasha's construct and impose his own version of his mind over it, not to mention we him construct a false memory similar to Oleander (I personally believe Gristol at least partially had something to do with that, but that's, again, a whole other post, and the point is Loboto's still able to create and maintain a false memory for others to find in his own mind). given all that, I think we have enough evidence to conclude that Loboto's pretty capable on this front, and would probably be on Oleander's level if he weren't Actually Literally Physically Brain Damaged.

anyway. I don't actually have a nice clever ending to this rambling. I'm just Like This

[hijinks-n-lowjinks]

If you could recommend a song for your ship, what song would it be? (You can give reasons why if you want to!)

Also, how's your day been? Hope it's going well! 💫

My day is going pretty good so far! I got groceries earlier today so that was a bit of hit to my bank account but it’s worth it to be able to eat a decent meal. I hope your day has been pleasant as well :D

And thank you for indulging me in yapping about my music taste lol, I have a LOT to say

I’m gonna start off with itafushi since they’re everyone’s current hyperfixation! You can find these songs of my itafushi playlist here

arms by Christina Perri: This song is so Megumi!!! The fear of getting close to someone and pushing them away first, saying that you’re not worth the fight? That’s Megumi in the current arc to a T right now.

Fav lyrics include: “I can’t decide if I’ll let you save my life or if I’ll drown” “the world is coming down around me and I can’t find a reason to be loved/I never want to leave you but I can’t make you bleed if I’m alone” “‘I’ve never opened up and I’ve never truly loved ‘til you” “and I believe that it’s easier for you to let me go”

North Star by Searows: peak yearning and longing. A desire to be the safe place for someone and wanting to be the person they come to for comfort.

Fav lyrics: “I don’t know what else came before you/you must know I just adore you” “I want you to have it all, all you’ve ever needed” “I don’t wanna need anything when you’re all that I’ve got to lose” “don’t you ever tire of all that? picking up the pieces/you don’t have to be alone when you’re the place I want to go” “if you ever want to fall back I’ll let you go/but when it’s said and done, I’ll be the North Star that takes you home”

Dinner With Friends by Kacey Musgraves: this song has been on LOOP for me since 266. Finding meaning and joy in the simplicities of life and how those are the things that make life worth living. Finding by solace in the person you’ve chosen, being known intimately by that person. It’s just perfect for them. The whole song is fairly short, but the final chorus never fails to make me emotional when paired with the acoustic guitar.

Fav lyrics: “early in June when the fireflies first start to glow, it never gets old” “the shape of his heart and my shoes by his door/he loves me in all of the ways I’ve never felt love before” “the things I would miss from the other side”

Save Me by Noah Kahan: can you tell that Megumi is my favorite character? Soooo many songs on my itfs playlist are about him, he’s just the perfect muse. A confusion over why someone would try to know or save you from yourself/outside forces and both wanting to be with them while being afraid of not being enough for them.

Fav lyrics: “let me go/why do you keeping reaching for my hand?/do you see something I can’t?/why do you try to save me?” “this fate is well deserved, I only make things worse” “sometimes I pray that maybe I’ll change into who you think I am”

Nothing To Be Scared Of by Kacey Musgraves: this album has a ton of itfs vibes to them! This song in particular is how I picture post canon itfs in slowly realizing that there’s nothing left to be afraid of and that they’ve made it through. Furthermore, than they can rely on each other and make it through together.

Fav lyrics: “holding tight to who you are like someone’s gonna take it/bubble wrap around your heart like someone’s gonna break it/demons in your mirror/together we’ll escape them” “come to me and drop your bags/and I’ll help you unpack them/you’re the only one i want to give my love/there’s nothing to be scared of”

Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars: this is a recent edition! The lyrics are soooo itfs though, especially when paired with the dramatic instrumentation! A desperation to stick together no matter what and a strong devotion to each other despite what happens even if it leads to tragedy.

Fav lyrics: “wherever you go I’ll follow/nobody’s promised tomorrow/so I’ll love you ever night like it’s the last night” “if the world was ending I’d want to be next to you/I’d want to hold you just for a while and die with a smile”

[wakebymoonsleepbysun]

Short version: Trying to come up with a design for DJ that works in my style and can emote decently and that I generally like the look of. Ideally a bit closer to canon than how I've been drawing him. So did some quick sketches to try to work on that.

Longer ramble below the cut.

So...part of why I've been drawing Music so much more than DJ is that I just haven't really liked how I've been drawing DJ for awhile now.

When I started drawing him I was still kinda...getting into the swing of even doing art again, so I cut myself a lot of slack. I scared myself off of drawing the DCA much because I gave myself too many "rules" for how to draw them, so with DJ I just said screw it, his face is basically squishy and he can change his eye shape and mouth shape however he needs to and even close his lips fully. And his "lips" are me just coloring the lineart pink because lips aren't something I have historically given my characters.

So when I started drawing MM I tried to challenge myself to not do those things. His lips never fully close, his eye shape stays round with the eyelids responsible for changing the shape of them, he has actual lips. And I got it work for him, but applying those techniques to DJ was...often not what I'd hoped for. But I think I'm starting to get it.

I'm also trying to get DJ's head dimensions to be more consistently square-ish. And I realized I can put his headphone headband behind his hat since his head is long enough to do that. (Even if his canon design doesn't take advantage of that fact :P)

His hat being bigger than canon and his chin being fairly flat (not having the exaggerated cleft/bump thing(? idk the proper name for it) that Music has) are deliberate because I like them.

Idk. Not sure if I'll stick with this style overall. I think works better for Music because most of the time he has some form of smarmy grin whereas DJ's facial expressions have a wider range.

[roseofhybrids]

Following up on this from last night/this morning

Here's a few paragraphs of me rambling about how the AIs might act differently than the canon characters. I'd draw them, but they don't look any different, so there's not as much of a need to right now.

Let's start with:

Ragatha Now, the AIs' goal is keep Pomni happy/safe from abstraction. Which was human Ragatha's goal with everyone already. So she's probably the closest to her canon counterpart. Accept that she's a little worse at the whole comforting others thing. Like Caine, the AI performers have limited knowledge of how humans work. So she has data on what Ragatha used to do to comfort and calm the others, but doesn't know why she'd pick one method over another. (e.g. human Rags might recognize that Pomni is touch-adverse so wouldn't try and hug her like she might with say Gangle. Or, she's know that X topic would be embarrassing from a human perspective to talk about, so might avoid it. AI Rags doesn't have this context, and so often picks what methods to use at random)

Her main method is to stick as close to her human counterpart's personality and actions as possible. While helping advise the others on their own ideas. In turn, her main conflict is that Pomni isn't really on board with this AI friends thing, so nothing the group does seems to work.

If Caine were to introduce the AIs individually, she'd be the first. I also imagine she'd be unofficial lead of the five due to seniority and having the most data on comforting humans.

Kinger Also very similar to his human version. Canon Kinger is fairly neutral towards Pomni, so not much changes in that regard. Pretty much Kinger but more sane. I'm thinking he'd be something of a second in command next to the Rags AI. Human Kinger was in the circus the longest and in turn witnesses the most abstractions before his own. So Ai Kinger has the most data on how humans behaved leading up to abstracting. He knows what signs to look for and is often left to keep an eye on her while the others convene and plan.

Being less crazy, he tries to play into the regal gentlemanly persona you'd expect from a king chess piece. He also helps advise the other AIs, with his main method being to take Pomni's mind off things through small games and discussions of interesting topics (insects).

His main conflict is that his knowledge is a bit of a double-edged sword. He knows the most about the past members, so I reason that after Pomni warms up to/begrudgingly accepts the AIs she's likely go to him to talk about the human versions. Leaving AI Kinger to both confront the fact that he and rest of the group are in fact clones of the dead, but also must decide if it's a good idea to talk about the past. A lot of those memories aren't exactly "happy" after all.

Gangle AI Gangle doesn't really have a sad mask like her human counterpart. That wouldn't really be in line with the AIs' main directive, after all. So she mimics human Gangle's behaviors from when she had on the happy mask. So I think it would be interesting if she put in the effort to fake other emotions for some situations. Laughing while a human is having a break-down or in a precarious situation doesn't make them like you all that much. So sometimes she needs to mimic other feelings in order to seem more "human" and relatable.

After being introduced to Pomni, the AIs went into their human counterparts' rooms to look for anything that might help them. AI Gangle managed to find a small collection of manga/anime. Her main method is to take inspiration from these books to set up entertaining and happy scenarios. After all, the humans in those slice of life stories seem pretty happy, so maybe it'll work for their human too.

Her main conflict would be trying and failing to get the mimicked emotions right. But I would like to add more to her if I can.

Zooble Zooble is a little tricky. Since in the pilot they get kidnapped and subsequently eaten, we don't see them as much as we do the others. But they do seem to be the most laid back of the group, so I think it would be best to play into that. They're the one to remind the others to give Pomni some alone time, to let her rest between their happiness schemes. Humans may be social, but this one is definitely an introvert.

I can see this putting them a little at odds with the other AIs at times, especially Ragatha (and maybe Gangle if she interrupts one of her manga reenactments). But it could also garner them some appreciation from Pomni. Their main method would be to focus on keeping Pomni relaxed. It's not the same as keeping her happy, but calm and content is certainly better than anxious and depressed.

Jax If Caine were to introduce the AIs individually, he'd be last. Of all the AI clones, he's the one to diverge the most from the human he's based on. Now, we all love ourselves a cartoon asshat. But when you're making an AI personality with the goal of keeping an anxious little jester from having a mental break, self-serving trickster isn't exactly the best choice. This leaves Jax with the least amount of useful data, and consequently makes him the most off-putting (next to maybe Gangle) from Pomni's perspective.

As such, he mainly helps the others with their plans rather than coming up with his own. Like Kinger he often has to confront the fact that he's an imperfect copy. The difference being that the person he's supposed to copy isn't a "good" person. The two main sources of data he's meant to base his behavior and personality on are at odds.

Bubble and Caine are basically the same. Bubble sometimes checks in on them while Caine's working. (He's happy to have some new AI friends to bite)

[pussyslaycatboy]

✈, 🔺, 🐉, 💙,🖤,🍔,😊,🧐 for Charon!

✈ charon's 100% more of a traveller. if he stays in one place for too long, he falls into a routine and starts to feel cooped up, so he likes to get out of the house as much as he can.

🔺 yes! charon usually uses magic to fight, but he does have a shortsword he uses fairly often. i think he was also trained to fight with different weapons during his upbringing, so even if he's very rusty, he's probably decent at using most common weapons efficiently.

🐉 in canon lore charon hates mythical creatures because they're associated with gods, whom he hates. HOWEVER, he'd like big creatures that he sees as cool and badass. so i think he'd really like stuff like dragons (and spinoffs like hydras, basilisks etc). he also respects beasts to a degree so i think he'd like phoenixes because he's like "well its just a bird thats on fire. thats cool."

💙 ok so charon is a mage, which aren't all that uncommon in his universe, but more specifically he's a god eater. which are basically super fucked up and unethical mages who eat gods to fuel their magic powers and to lengthen their lifespan. he mostly specializes in combat magic, since he's been trained since he was young to catch or kill gods, and he's pretty average with it naturally BUT has a whole lot of dedication to getting stronger.

🖤 charon has killed a LOT of gods, and a few people, but he has an emotional disconnect to people he isn't close to so it doesn't really phase him. however, his actions have led to death and serious injuries to people he loves through his father -- basically, his father groomed him to catch and bring him gods, but became greedy to the point where he started to demand other god eaters. so he tricked charon into bringing his best friend's younger brother over, whom his father then cannibalized. they're not bffs anymore for obvious reasons.

🍔 charon was raised sort of posh so he has never cooked or baked in his life. he barely knows how to use a microwave, and even if given the opportunity to learn, he would unfortunately reject it because he doesn't care about cooking. and also tbh he's sort of a misogynist so he'd be like "well cooking is for girls so i'm not doing that. ew."

😊 for a really long time, charon's desires were just a projection of his father's. his father wanted him to become a strong god eater to honor the family. even after escaping his father, this mentality stuck with him for a really long time and was his sole purpose (even if he was like "well this is what I want"). now, he doesn't really have a goal, which sort of fucks him up because he doesn't know what to do with himself. and has never been a person apart from his father's desires.

🧐 absolutely more emotional. charon doesn't really think things through before acting, and most of his actions are fuelled by emotions. he trusts his gut and sticks with it.

[themculibrary]

Steve & Bucky Meeting Masterlist

But I Will Never Forget! (ao3) - debwalsh steve/bucky N/R, 1k

Summary: Have a little baby Steve and Bucky to cleanse your palate.

Steve never liked bullies. Never. Turns out, neither did Bucky Barnes.

Drawing Fire (ao3) - Atsadi G, 1k

Summary: Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes did indeed meet in a schoolyard fight, but it wasn't quite how everyone assumed.

Dumpster Youth (ao3) - nine_thursdays steve/bucky G, 322

Summary: The day Captain America meets Sergeant Barnes...Of course, back when they were young, they were Stevie and Bucky...

In the Beginning... (ao3) - LoveMeSomeRafael steve/bucky E, 251k

Summary: This ambitious project is intended to be a several-part series. Each part will cover an era in Steve and Bucky's lives. (There's an outline, even.) It's meant to be a fairly long story, built around sticking as close to MCU canon as possible. The intention is to create a framework by including canon scenes and dialogue to anchor your place in the MCU movies, while building out the backstory - what happened before, after, and between those scenes. And then to carry the story forward as though Steve's nonsensical decision in Endgame didn't happen (because it didn't - I have spoken) to show Steve and Bucky living happily after after. Tags will be updated as I go. You know the story: you can expect sweetness and fluff, (hopefully) humor, coming of age, romance and sex, pain, adventure, war and horror, Nazis and Hydra, creepy asshole "scientists", and all the usual Avengers suspects. It'll be the story of an inevitable friendship born of mutual admiration when Steve and Bucky are so young they afterwards don't remember ever not being best friends. It will follow that friendship as it deepens through shared history and trauma and grows into the love of a lifetime.

My Thoughts on You (ao3) - hokage35 steve/bucky T, 19k

Summary: “So I guess that leads me to ask, are there any boys you like in your class?” Tony wiggled his eyebrows, breaking the short silence.

Steve blushed profusely.

“Aha,” Tony clapped his hands together. “There are. Come on tell me.”

Proprioception (ao3) - aimmyarrowshigh steve/bucky T, 100

Summary: Proprioception. Steve was always on Bucky's left.

redamancy (ao3) - stevebuckybrainrot steve/bucky M, 73k

Summary: Redamancy {re - da - man - cy}

n. the act of loving someone who loves you; a love returned in full

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield."

Before the war, before Nazis and aliens and time travel, there was this: scorching summers and bitter winters, sketchbooks and paintbrushes, bruised knuckles and split lips, stolen kisses and lingering looks. There was Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes and a love to last through the ages.

And nothing else mattered.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship (ao3) - dottieapple steve/bucky G, 2k

Summary: The new school year is barely under way, and tiny, daydreaming 8-year-old Steve Rogers is already in trouble at school. Little does he know he's about to make a friend 'til the end of the line.

When We Were Young (ao3) - Starlight_Silver G, 1k

Summary: James laughed. “Alright church-boy. Hey, you never told me you Christian name.” “It’s Steven,” the boy said. “Steven Grant Rogers. And you are?” “James Buchanan Barnes, named after the one-and-only President James Buchanan, son of George Neville Barnes, and winner of the all-out St. Katherine’s Schoolyard Marbles Championship.” Steven snorted. “Well, I ain’t never gonna remember all that. How ‘bout Bucky for short?” **** Or: Eleven-year-old Steve and Twelve-year-old Bucky bond in the schoolyard over beating up bullies.

Winifred and Mrs. Rogers (ao3) - gossamerthreads G, 7k

Summary: The first time Steve Rogers and James Barnes meet they burst into the courtyard yelling and hollering, fists and feet kicking up dirt. Steve sank his teeth into James’s upper arm and James howled and punched him in the eye. By the time their mothers pulled them apart the whole neighborhood was leaning out to watch.

James got the switch, Sarah wore out a shoe on Steve’s behind, and both boys swore they’d be mortal enemies for life.

[bijouxcarys]

Not a request but a question...

What are your thoughts on inaccuracies in either "major or minor" characters for the sake of the plot in fan fiction?

For example: Instead of Mary, Freddie has a different girlfriend, or he figures out his sexuality much earlier, or that Miami had cancer or smth like that 😭💀

Will you ever write something like that?

Great question; I always love talking about my thoughts on fanfiction, and analysing things such as this. Throughout my 10 years of reading and writing it, I've picked up a lot of patterns and examples of when things are done well or poorly.

Creative innacuracies are difficult to do successfully and effectively. When reading a fanfiction, you already have a pre-concieved notion of what to expect and what you're getting into, so if a writer chooses to alter a canonical event/trait, they have to make sure that it's relevent, and that it aligns with the story. It needs to contribute to the overall plot, otherwise its value is extremely low and can actually be a distraction to the rest of the fanfiction.

I've seen lots of stories where Freddie was never with a female and he's strictly gay. This could go off in different directions here, where some fans believe he was bisexual, and some believe he was exclusively gay. I, myself, think he was bisexual, based off of his own words. So, I wouldn't have an issue with a fanfiction writer creating a female OC for Freddie to be with at some point in their timeline. Mary, however, is an important part of Freddie's story and how he became who he was, so switching out Mary for an entirely different person would be a risky move that the author would have to navigate in a way that contributes to Freddie's evolution as a character and a person.

When talking about canonical inaccuracies, it gets into AU territory. Personally, I am not a fan of Alternate Universe fiction. I'm pretty realistic about everything I write, minus the obvious shipping of Brian with my OC Maria, and Robert with Elena in a universe where his wife doesn't exist. Where the point is romance, innacuracies such as what I just mentioned can work and do work fairly frequently. The point of fanfiction is to add onto what is already there, or change certain aspects based off of the arena of work that it stems from.

RPF (Real Person Fanfiction) is a slippery slope, since you're essentially manipulating another person's actual life in order to live out a fictionalised scenario/fantasy through literature. Canonical inaccuracies are fine, as long as they make sense and contribute to the entire story and aren't randomised throughout.

Where I personally draw the line with these innacuracies, however, is when an author plays about with a real person's sexuality. I support the idea of people being able to write about whatever they want, as long as they're fully aware of what they're doing and the distinction between their fictional scenarios and what is the truth. However, I personally choose to avoid fanfictions in which the author has chosen to present a character through a sexuality they aren't.

For example: I have an issue with Jimbert (Robert Plant/Jimmy Page) fanfictions. It has nothing to do with the concept of homosexuality, but everything to do with the aversion of how the actual people choose to live. Same goes for Maylor fanfiction (Brian May/Roger Taylor). These are straight men, and I personally think that if you're going to write one of these people being romantically/sexually involved with an OC, at least make sure you're respecting their real-life sexuality. You're already writing about them in their private lives, the least one can do is that.

Ultimately, it's an author's decision how they want to manipulate a factual timeline to align with their fictional scenarios. It's personal preference. I don't think I would ever stray too far from fact in my own writing; I like to stick to the actual timeline of events, as closely as possible, down to the date, as well as adhere strongly to every real person's traits and personalities.

Subjectivity is a large part of fanfiction writing, and it's one of the things that makes it such a beautiful artform. And as a reader, what you choose to injest is up to you.

Sorry if this was a really long response, I just love talking about fanfiction!

Thank you for the ask <3